ALTOONA – State legislators, medical professionals, and advocates discussed the potential lifelong harm caused by allowing minors to undergo gender transitioning operations during a public hearing of the PA Senate Majority Policy Committee. The panel heard that from 2015 to 2023, nearly 5,000 people aged 18 or younger received taxpayer-funded services related to sex reassignment and transition-related services and drugs. During that time frame, more than $21.8 million was spent on such services. The committee also heard from an individual who relayed their experience of gender transitioning only to return to their biological sex years later. Sen. Judy Ward, who attended the hearing, announced that she will soon introduce the Do No Harm Act to prohibit minors from receiving irreversible gender transitioning procedures. The legislation would also prevent taxpayer dollars from being used for that purpose. On January 28, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order which states “it is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.”
